LEGION BASEBALL: Pottstown beats Oley/Topton in Region 2 game

(Updated at 12:07 p.m.) Pottstown defeated Oley/Topton in American Legion Baseball Region 2 action 3-0 Tuesday morning. The game was scheduled for Monday afternoon but was suspended after thunderstorms moved into the area.

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BOYERTOWN — For quite a while on Monday afternoon, it seemed as if all of the thunderstorms in the area might somehow miss Bear Stadium and the Pennsylvania Region 2 Tournament. But the first game of the day between Pottstown and Oley/Topton was suddenly halted when a flash of lightning and a boom of thunder came out of nowhere at a little after 2 p.m.

A prolonged downpour began a few minutes later, and eventually that contest and the other two that were to follow were postponed until Tuesday, with play scheduled to resume at 9:30 a.m.

First, the losers’ bracket game between Pottstown and Oley/Topton will pick up in the bottom of the eighth inning with Pottstown leading by a 3-0 score and Oley/Topton batting with a runner on first base and one out. North Parkland and Nazareth will play a losers’ bracket contest at 10:30 a.m., followed by the winners’ bracket final between Boyertown and Twin Valley at 1:30 p.m.

The two contests originally scheduled for Tuesday will be played at 4:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., with the matchups to be determined and the winner of the winners’ bracket final to play in the late game.

Jimmy Mullen, who had delivered the game-winning hit in the 11th inning on Sunday against Salisbury, was on the mound for Pottstown (23-4) on Monday and allowed just four singles and a walk through seven innings while striking out six. Patriots starter Nick Distasio pitched just as well through five frames as he retired the first eight Steelers batters and allowed only singles in the third and fifth.

Then the first two Pottstown batters went down in the sixth. But Richy Masciarelli drew a walk, stole second, and came home on a single through the middle by Seth Regensburg. Nick Zipay followed with a line drive single to left and Adam Regensburg ripped one into the gap in left-center that wound up at the fence for a two-run triple.

Zach Eddinger was hit by a Mullen pitch leading off the eighth for Oley/Topton (22-7-1) and the next batter grounded into a force at second just before the rains came.

The tournament will conclude on Wednesday with a 12:30 p.m. contest and another, if necessary, 30 minutes later. The winner will advance to the Pennsylvania State Tournament in Boyertown that begins next Tuesday. If the host Bears – who have an automatic berth in that tournament – win, the runner-up will advance.